Peruvian cement market expands 151% in March

Cement dispatches in Peru surged 151 per cent YoY to 1.09Mt in March 2021 from a low base of 0.435Mt in March 2020, when the country faced measures to slow the spread of COVID-19, according to its national cement association, Asocem.

Cement production from the cement plants owned by Asocem members went up from 0.419Mt in March 2020 to 1.006Mt in March 2021. Clinker output rose from 0.352Mt to 0.708Mt over the period. Domestic production was supplemented by 133,100t of cement imports, up 31 per cent YoY, and 255,800t of clinker imports, up 193 per cent YoY. A share of 88 per cent of cement imports was supplied by Vietnam, while 47 per cent of clinker came from key supplier South Korea.

Cement companies exported 16,000t of cement and 70,000t of clinker in March 2021, representing an advance of 153 per cent and a return to clinker exports when compared with March 2020.

January-March 2021
In the first quarter of 2021 cement dispatches in Peru increased 43.1 per cent to 3.213Mt from 2.246Mt in the 1Q20.

Domestic production reached 3.023Mt, up 34.6 per cent when compared with the January-March 2020 period, when 2.246Mt was produced. In addition, during the 1Q21, 268,000t of cement and 618,000t of clinker were imported into Peru, representing a YoY increase of 63.4 and 451 per cent, respectively.

In the 1Q21 Peruvian cement producers exported 46,000t of cement, up 35.3 per cent YoY, and 106,000t of clinker, up 2.9 per cent YoY.